


New

by Rose Argent (roseargent)



Category: Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha | Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-11
Updated: 2012-02-11
Packaged: 2017-10-30 22:29:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/336878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roseargent/pseuds/Rose%20Argent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hayate's guardians are growing and changing in ways they never could have expected; can Signum and Shamal learn to balance who they were and who they're becoming?</p>
            </blockquote>





	New

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BeccaStareyes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeccaStareyes/gifts).



> I matched with you on two fandoms. This is not one of them. And yet here we are. I've not read any of the manga and I've only seen StrikerS once, so this is based almost entirely on A's. Please forgive any errors that resulted from this. :( I hope you like it.

"Maybe I should have gone with them after all." Though she knew Hayate was perfectly safe with her friends, Signum found she still couldn't quite shake the feeling that something was wrong whenever their Mistress was not here. But it was so hard to see Hayate struggling to walk, fighting pain and frustration to regain the strength and mobility that the Book had cost her, and be unable to help her, protect her like they were supposed to. They'd all discovered that taking turns escorting her to rehab was the only way to get through it; tonight, it was Vita and Zafira's turns. But it was unnaturally quiet with Vita gone, and with just her and Shamal rattling around in the big house Signum couldn't help but notice how empty the place felt without Hayate's warmth.

The sound of Shamal's knife on the cutting board slowed for a moment, but she didn't say anything. It was a rhetorical sort of statement, and Shamal knew as well as Signum did why they'd stayed behind. Eventually she paused long enough to drop the sliced vegetables into the simmering curry and said, "I suppose I didn't really need to cook, with Hayate-chan and Vita-chan spending the night at the Takamachi house. I think I made too much for just the two of us." She laughed a little nervously, and Signum found herself smiling fondly at the sound.

"Zafira might wander home early." Vita would stay--she fit in well enough with Hayate's friends--but Zafira sometimes got tired of being the cute puppy after a while in their company. And Hayate was as safe at the Takamachi house as she was at home; as long as one of them was with her, Signum could feel they were still doing their duty as Knights. Still, it was hard to feel so... superfluous, sometimes. When they had no assignment from the TSAB and Hayate was at school, rehab, or with her friends, they had little to occupy their time except training. And each other.

"It's nice to spend some time together, just the two of us," Shamal mused absently. As she realised what she'd said, she dropped her knife and added hurriedly, "Oh, that is, once in a while, as long as Hayate-chan is happy and safe! It's good for her to be with her friends, too."

Signum got up to join Shamal at the stove, frowning ever so slightly as she picked up the dropped knife, but the blade didn't seem damaged, at least. "I know. We want to be with Mistress Hayate, of course, but you're right. This is nice too." But there was the root of so many of her worries lately--how did a Knight balance protecting a Mistress like Hayate with not smothering her or coming between her and her new friends? And, also... Signum shied away from that particular thought for now and put the knife down on the cutting board carefully. "It seems like you're done. The curry needs to cook a little longer, right?"

Shamal leaned back against Signum for a moment, nodding silently. Signum could feel the tension in Shamal's shoulders, and sighed a little. They were both probably running mental circles around the same problems, like they had been ever since they all joined the TSAB and Hayate started becoming more independent. And even more so, since the day they'd realised they were growing more and more capable of forming bonds with new people... and new sorts of bonds with each other. 

"The curry should be ready at the same time as the rice." Shamal glanced at the timer on the rice cooker as if to confirm, then nodded again.

Somehow, discussing food and shopping and other household topics just wasn't the same without Hayate, and the conversation faltered. Signum struggled to find another topic. "How are our cartridge supplies?" They weren't going through them anywhere near as fast as they had been while trying to fill the Book's pages, but the assignments the TSAB gave them were never exactly easy, either. It was all too tempting to relax, after spending so long in a fever pitch of desperation, but becoming complacent could still get them--or, infinitely worse, their Mistress--killed.

"We have enough for a little while. I'll do another batch next week." 

After that brief exchange, things were quiet again until dinner was ready. This time, though, Signum felt like it was a more comfortable silence. The difficult topics were still there, waiting to be talked about properly, but the smell of curry was filling the house and Shamal was warm against her side and even if Hayate wasn't here with them right now, the smell of good food cooking made it almost seem like she was.

While they were cleaning up after dinner, Signum felt Shamal's hand brush against hers more than a few times more often than strictly necessary, and in return she stood more than a little closer than she really needed to. It took twice as long to do the dishes as it should have, but Signum couldn't quite seem to care about the inefficiency at the moment. "It seems Zafira is going to be late, if he comes home tonight after all. Maybe we should just leave his portion in the fridge, take our baths, and retire for the night instead of waiting up for him."

Shamal glanced at Signum sidelong. "Maybe we should. Why don't you run the bath while I write a note for Zafira?"

As she was filling the tub, Signum was astounded to find that her hands were shaking. The only thing she'd ever been afraid of was losing Hayate. But she was afraid of this new thing with Shamal, even as she let it happen. Helped it happen. _Wanted_ it to happen, which was the scariest part of all. There wasn't anything in being a Knight, in being the leader of the Wolkenritter, that explained this wanting or told her how to deal with it. Everything she and Shamal had done up until now had been during heated moments, they'd never planned any of it, or even really thought about it. At least, Signum hadn't. Couldn't bring herself to. Because what if someday this thing with Shamal became more important to her than Hayate? Could she be Hayate's Knight and this, too? 

But when Shamal came in the room, all gleaming pale skin and taut muscle, Signum once again abandoned thought. 

Later, when they were both sweat-slicked and more in need of a bath than ever, Signum began to notice the patterns Shamal's hands were drawing on her skin. Across her ribs, where there'd been a wound that had kept Signum out of this very bath one night, for fear of letting their Mistress learn what they'd been doing when they were away. Along her arms, her legs, everywhere Shamal's hands passed she traced the invisible paths of wounds long healed. "You remember them all, don't you?"

Shamal paused, looking startled, as though she hadn't known what she was doing. "It's how I first got to know your body. Healing you, over and over." Sadness filled Shamal's eyes, and she looked away for a long moment. 

"Less and less, now. Little ones, like here." Signum guided Shamal's hand to where a blade had scored a long, shallow furrow in her thigh. "Barely a scratch, that one. Or here," she lifted Shamal's fingers to her shoulder, where she'd been bitten by the baby beast they'd failed to spot as they fought its mother. "Hardly even broke the skin." 

The sadness left Shamal's face and she slid her hand down to Signum's chest. "Testarossa-san got you here, in your last sparring match."

Signum hmphed and tossed her head. "I gave her more than a few good shots of my own." 

"You always do." This part, the casual touching and conversation, was always easier, just an extension of the bond the Wolkenritter had as a team, as comrades. "But I think we need to wash off and get out soon." 

As soon as Shamal mentioned it, Signum realised that at least part of the light-headedness she felt was due to being in the hot bath longer than was wise. She was careful getting out of the tub, and held a hand out to steady Shamal as she got out, too. They leaned on each other, swaying a little until the dizziness passed. The water cooling on their skin broke the spell of the moment soon enough, though, and they showered off as quickly as they could manage.

Signum gave the couch an almost fond sort of look as they passed it on the way to their room--she'd spent so many nights sleeping there, her duty as leader keeping her between the front door and the rest of the house, but it had been months now since she'd so much as dozed off outside of a real bed. Feeling safe, as dangerous as it could be if she wasn't careful, did have its perks. 

Without even really thinking about it, Signum settled onto the same bed as Shamal when they got to their room. 

"You know, I think these beds aren't really big enough for sharing." Shamal seemed half-asleep already as she said it, almost like she was talking to herself.

"Oh? Well, I'll get out of your hair then." Signum kept her expression stony, and moved to get off the bed.

Shamal snapped awake as quickly as though someone had jabbed her with a stick. "Oh, oh, no! Signum, I didn't mean that at all! I'm so sorry, it came out all wrong!" Tears welled up in her eyes and she reached for Signum's hand, stopping just short as if afraid to touch. "I-I just meant, we should think about getting a bigger one, or pushing these two together or..."

Not quite able to suppress it any longer, Signum felt her lips twitching into a smile.

For just a heartbeat Shamal fell silent and then she gasped, sounding terribly affronted, "You were _teasing_ me!" Then she stopped short again and her eyes widened in genuine surprise. " _You_ were teasing me." 

All the mirth drained out of Signum, then, and she murmured thoughtfully, "I suppose I was." Settling back onto the bed with Shamal, Signum admitted to herself that it was past time they said it out loud. "We're still changing, every day. We're going to keep changing."

Resting her head on Signum's shoulder, Shamal agreed softly, "We suspected that might happen, when Reinforce freed us from the Book. We're not simple guardian programs anymore. We haven't been since Hayate first treated us as her family, but it's true that it's getting more and more noticeable."

"So what are we, now?" And there was the heart of it--how much could they change, without losing who they had been?

"Hayate-chan's Guardian Knights. Wolkenritter. First and always." Shamal's answer was firm, evincing none of the doubts Signum had been struggling with all this time. 

A little startled by Shamal's easy confidence, Signum closed her eyes and let her heart speak freely. Deep inside, Shamal's words still resonated, and Signum smiled ruefully at her own foolishness, to have worried at all. She'd wielded Laevatein long enough that she should have remembered that strong didn't mean rigid. "Yes. Yes, always."

"It's not as simple as it used to be. But as long as we stand by Hayate-chan and each other, I think we can find room to be new things, too." 

The weight lifted from Signum's heart and and twined her fingers with Shamal's. "Even new things that require pushing the beds together?"

Shamal kissed Signum, long and hard enough to make sure that Signum remembered that she, too, was a Knight. " _Especially_ new things that require pushing the beds together."

And though they were both bleary-eyed and half asleep through most of breakfast the next morning, for some reason Hayate only smiled at them, and never quite got around to scolding them for staying up too late.

-fin-


End file.
